Do Ex-LDS have issues believing the Bible?

Post by **_Mudcat** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:46 pm

I am an evangelical, and have noted there are several Ex-LDS on the board. My wife and her family are LDS and I have discussions with them from time to time about our differing faiths. One thing I note, is that there isn't a lot of stock put into the Bible....(its mistranslated, books missing, etc..) I am not saying they don't hold is Scripture, that would be a gross misrepresentation of their beliefs...but I do believe they see it much differently than I.
There are many, like myself who have a different opinion of the Bible.
Are there many ex-LDS who leave the church, because they no longer maintain LDS beliefs but yet maintain the belief that the Bible isn't credible in and of itself?

Post by **_The Nehor** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:49 pm

I'm still active LDS but in my experience most LDS who leave the Church lean towards pantheism, agnosticism, and atheism. I'm speaking here about those who leave it and declare it false. Most of those who are simply not active generally profess belief in the truth of the LDS faith. This is of course a general observation. There are lots of individual exceptions.

Post by **_truth dancer** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:45 pm

I think the Bible is a book written by various men throughout the ages; a bit of mythology, history, allegory, poetry, laws, and rules.

:-)

My guess, is that few people would actually believe it is truly the word of God if they actually read it. ;-)

~dancer~

Post by **_antishock8** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:52 pm

It's been my experience that the more serious an apostate was about Mormonism the more likely he is to be non-religious once he leaves the faith. This isn't absolute, but from what I've seen it's mostly the case.

It's hard to stop applying the same rationalis to the claims of the Bible when you're not a Mormon.

Post by **_krose** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:55 pm

For me, as someone who left the LDS Church as a natural result of becoming agnostic (as opposed to those who left because of historical or doctrinal difficulties, and who may have retained god-beliefs), the Bible was simply one part of the entire parcel of beliefs I left behind.

Post by **_BishopRic** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:06 pm

I think it is natural for those of us who have left for doctrinal reasons to question all truth claims, including the Bible. All books are written by humans, and many claim to be "inspired" by God. But when those books contradict each other, it's only natural to consider that none of them are actually from God.

I like what the Bible scholar Marcus Borg says: "The Bible is true, and some of it happened." I think that is the approach Christianity will have to transition to as science continues to show that it is mostly non-historical.

Post by **_Canucklehead** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:11 pm

Yep, once you start to think critically about your own religion, it's pretty easy to think critically about other religions to which you never even ascribed (i.e. traditional Christianity).

Also, Mormons see the Book of Mormon and the Bible as going hand-in-hand, so if you begin to question one, you're likely to also question the other.

Post by **_Dr. Shades** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:47 pm

I for one certainly maintain that the Bible ISN'T credible in and of itself.

I believe that way mostly for the reasons Canucklehead and truth dancer elaborated.

Post by **_AmazingDisgrace** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:51 pm

I think you're right that Mormons generally don't value the Bible as highly as their other scriptures, especially compared to the way Evangelicals view it. Part of this is because of its canonized designation as "the word of God as far as it is translated correctly", with no such qualification given for the Book of Mormon or modern revelations.

But I'd say the biggest reason is that Mormons just don't find it as useful. Most have been in enough friendly discussions or all-out Bible bashes with other Christians to realize that the book is inconsistent enough that both sides can use it to proof-text their positions. The non-Mormon cites 1 John 4:12 to prove that no man can see God, and the Mormon cites Genesis 32:30 to show that Jacob saw God face to face. For use within the church, the unique doctrines are just more clearly spelled out in the newer scriptures, while the Bible is believed to have had its "plain and precious" teachings removed. The common idea is that whatever clearly supports Mormonism is original, and whatever deviates from it must be a corruption.

Another significant thing, and I'm speaking from personal experience, is that the Bible often makes Mormons uncomfortable. In the Book of Mormon, the prophets only occasionally make minor mistakes and they always repent; when the good guys go to war, they take prisoners rather than exterminating entire cities; When God uses natural disasters for mass killings, he spares "the more righteous part of the people", including the children. Its ideas of morality just fit much more comfortably with modern readers than the alien culture of the Old Testament.

I lost my belief in God and in the Bible first, so the Mormonism-specific stuff was all secondary in my case.

Post by **_gramps** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:33 pm

AmazingDisgrace wrote:

I lost my belief in God and in the Bible first, so the Mormonism-specific stuff was all secondary in my case.

Funny. I was speaking with a friend, a Mormon, and I told him that I felt like I lost my testimony in Christ and God long before I lost my testimony in Mormonism.

Mormonism is a powerful sucker, for sure.